Prosecutor Jane Sarginson said both men worked as carpenters with Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council.

In May, Szczepaniak confronted Mr Carnevale in a flat at Mount Pleasant Road, Bedworth, accusing him of spreading it around that he was planning to move to Blackpool.

In fact, Mr Carnevale told the court, he had only heard about the planned move from another colleague that day.

Eight days later, he and workmate Barry Rhodes were doing a job at a house in Bedworth, and as they left to go on their lunch break they saw another borough council van parked outside flats in Mount Pleasant Road.

They decided to go in for a ?chat with the lads? and, on the way in, Mr Carnevale saw the defendant.

The pair had an altercation which erupted into violence, the court heard, as Szczepaniak drew a claw hammer from his tool box.

Mr Carnevale told the court: ?He hit me eleven times.

?I have the scar on my head and on my hand, and the marks down my back. I thought he was going to kill me. I thought that was it.?

He broke down and cried during his evidence and added: ?It seemed so unreal. It was not like it was happening to me. I was shouting to get him off.?